Gain-Muscle-Mass

An important ingredient to optimal muscle training is rest. A simple way to think about it is that your muscles don't grow in the gym, they grow while your resting and recovering. Too many trainees have the attitude that the more time they spend in the gym the more muscle they will build, and the greater effect their so called optimal muscle training program will have.

Q: Why is spending more time in the gym actually LESS effective?

A: Because in most cases you will actually build less muscle! And the muscle you do build is done so at a very slow rate, due to the fact that you are continually interrupting the recovery process. If your optimal muscle training routine has you continually breaking down your muscles, and wearing down your body's own recuperative process, then this does very little if nothing for growth to occur. Training hard every day, continually triggering or firing your muscles, but never allowing the muscle building rest they need, and deserve, does not give them the opportunity to recover and build back up. Instead they are again pounded upon the next day (or even the same day for those trainees engaged in the non productive practice of twice daily training) thus interfering with the growth and recovery process, leading to ineffective optimal muscle training.

Q: Then how come a lot of the "big guys" at the gym train every day and are getting results?

A: There are indeed a number of individuals who do well with everyday workouts and find this to be the optimal muscle training for them. These individuals tend to either be young, having just begun their muscle building journey, or they have incredible recovery capabilities, and above average genetics for muscle building, or they are taking performance enhancement drugs to greatly aid in their body's recovery abilities. These individuals can get away with everyday, frequent workouts, as their optimal muscle training, while packing on the muscle to boot. But for the young trainees, as they build more muscle there tends to come a point where in order to continue their muscle building progress they will need to adapt their optimal muscle training routine by decreasing their workout frequency.

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In order to build muscle fast you have to have three components in place. If you excel in one area but slack in the other then you will not succeed. You have to nail every aspect one hundred percent, and view each as contributing equally to the overall goal to build muscle fast.

1. Weightlifting. Obviously to build muscle fast you must engage in weight training activity. You're not going to get there doing push-ups and pull-ups. Not only do you have to lift, but you have to lift heavy. There's a t-shirt out there which reads "go heavy or go home". Wear the shirt. Don't waste your time showing up at a gym ready to train, unless you are there to do business, lift some serious weight, and build muscle fast. Having said that, know your limit. Training heavy does not mean lifting the same amount of weight as the biggest guy in the gym. Training heavy is relative and means lifting an amount of weight which you can perform with safely, yet it is going to be very, very difficult to complete 10 repetitions. Everyone has their own ''heavy weight''.

2. Eat. There's another build muscle fast slogan which reads, "eat to grow". Heed those words. The fastest, most direct route to build muscle fast in addition to weightlifting, is through eating, eating, and eating some more. You have to fuel you body, providing it with not just enough to get through your workouts, but enough to build your muscles. You must create an environment within your body where there is a constant source of protein floating around. Thus you must have a protein based meal every 3 hours. Big meals can include meals such as chicken breasts, vegetables, rice, and nuts, while smaller in between meals can consist of a high calorie protein shake. Though if one is serious about how to build muscle fast, they may want to skip out on flimsy protein shakes, and instead gorge on more regular food meals.

3. Rest. Your muscles don't grow in the gym. That's the trigger, but the actual growth occurs during rest and recovery. So it's best to have a workout schedule which is not everyday, but, around three times a week as not to over train your body. For the individual with average or below genetics it's imperative that they allow rest days for their muscles to grow.

The ultimate athletic physique is one which carries muscle, yet at the same time remains lean. You can gain muscle and get leaner at the same time by doing the following:

1. Lift weights heavy and hard for muscle gain

Gaining muscle in the quickest way possible is going to require lifting weights for repetitions in the 6-8 range. You want to find a weight which is heavy enough where you can only perform between 6-8 reps and no more. This rep range is the best for fast muscle gain. Of course you want to make sure your form is good and you are not sacrificing safety.

2. Do cardiovascular work throughout the week.

In order to get lean you are going to have to do at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise, 3-4 times a weeks. This will burn off the fat, and keep it off. The key is not doing cardo too hard or too often. This would interfere with your muscle gains.

For example, you will see individuals who work out in the gym, but also do heavy running. Their physique seldom changes, and they never seem to gain any substantial muscle. Most of their hard work lifting weights becomes null and void for muscle gains due to their strenuous running routine which breaks down the muscle rather than rebuilding it.

3. Watch your carbohydrate intake.

As far as diet, you will have to watch what you eat and not consume junk food continuously. But beyond that what you really should focus on is cutting out those heavy carbohydrates like breads and pastas. These add a ton of calories to your diet and definitely won't get you lean, rather they'll add fat and all your hard cardiovascular exercise work won't get you lean if you keep consuming heavy carb foods.

An easy route to take to accomplish all of the above is simply getting on a muscle building program which promotes more muscular development while at the same time gets you lean and athletic looking.

Beginner core muscle training should consist of some basic but core movements which not only will result in future growth, but you should see results in the short term as well.

Bench Press.

Benching will work not only your chest muscles, but will activate your shoulder muscles and your triceps as well. This is a good movement for beginners as it teaches you balance and focus. You should focus on using your pectorals (chest muscles) to press the weight up. Your shoulders and triceps will naturally come into play. Beginner core muscle training should also consist of balance training. That is being able to control the weight evenly throughout the movement. Bench press is a good movement to learn balance and control.

Leg Press.

While the squat is said to be the king of exercises, not only building you bigger legs, but also contributing to overall muscle growth, the leg press is a good movement for beginners to start out with, and then they can switch over or include the squat in their workouts later on. The leg press is done on a machine and is very easy to learn. You'll be working mainly the front muscles of the legs/thighs. You should feel the muscle working right away, and will probably get some good results your first month developing muscular legs.

Bicep Curl.

I include the bicep curl as a beginner core muscle training exercise because most beginners want to see some results which will motivate them greatly to stick with muscle building. One of the easiest and most pleasing results to see is bigger biceps. Bicep curls can be performed by doing straight barbell curls or single alternating dumbbell curls. Either way you will feel your biceps being worked and soon experience the visual benefits from lifting weights.

Beginners are encouraged to invest in a good muscle building program so they can see results very quickly and make sure they are performing the exercises properly.

This absolutely will make the difference on whether or not you gain 15 pounds of muscle mass or whether you stay the same: The gain muscle mass training log.

The only way you will gain muscle mass is if you are consistently lifting heavier or stronger weight from workout to workout. 98% of trainees in the gym go without a training log and workout after workout they can be seen using the same weights doing the same number of reps, and hence looking the same month after month. They are absolutely clueless at how a training log could transform their body allowing them to gain muscle mass.

What exactly a training log should be:

A training log is a notebook in which you record your progress from one workout to the next. For instance if you did bench press on Monday you write down "bench" followed by:

1. The amount of weight you are using.

2. The number of repetitions you've completed.

Then the following week, in order to gain muscle mass, when your bench workout would come up again, you would refer back to the previous weeks notes, look at your numbers, and then attempt to increase your numbers in order to gain muscle mass. That is, try to perform an additional repetition, or else keep the repetitions the same and up the weight. Or both. This is exactly how you are going to gain muscle mass. Again you need to record your numbers for this workout, so you can out do yourself for the next workout.

If you do 10 repetitions for an exercise, then perhaps you would increase the weight and attempt 6-10 reps with a higher weight. Or if you did 6 reps with a particular weight last workout, then this workout you would attempt more than 6 reps, perhaps shooting for 8-10. If you progress in either manner, then you know you are going to gain muscle mass. You are forcing your body to make changes in its muscularity. Since you are getting stronger in the gym, you are thus forging ahead productively on the muscle building fast track.

If you do try for heavier weight, but don't achieve your rep goals, then you can go back to your original weight and work on performing more repetitions until you are ready to advance to a higher muscle building weight. In any event, once again you will be on a steady, methodical path of gain muscle mass progression.

There are only two things to do in order to successfully answer the question of how to gain weight and muscle. Apply these two things to a 4 week program and you are going to come out stronger, tougher, and bigger.

1. Lifting: The backbone of a how to gain weight and muscle program is weight lifting. And performing the following exercises are the key to getting bigger. These exercises are known to put on mass quickly. They not only work the major mass muscles, but performing these exercises literally put your body in a growth zone that makes it easy and quick to gain weight and muscle. Any hardcore gym will verify that the fastest growth that members have experienced were through the practice of the following weight lifting exercises:

a. Squats

b. Deadlifts

c. Dips

These are key on how to gain weight and muscle and thus should be the main animals in your stable of weight training exercise. For instance you could perform a Monday, Wednesday, Friday workout schedule which would include one of these big dog exercises above for each workout day (for instance Squats on Monday, Dips on Wednesday, and Deads on Friday). You can then add other exercises into the mix, like bicep curls, chest exercises, etc. But these three should be your main focus as they are the absolute key on how to gain weight and muscle.

2. Eat. During your 4 week how to gain weight and muscle program, you must eat like you've never eaten before. Visualize each meal contributing to your gain weight and muscle goals, and if you miss one then you are just pushing yourself backwards and not forwards.

You should consume 3 strong meals a day and then 3 minor meals in between. Your breakfast, lunch, and dinner strong meals should all consist of at least 30-50 grams of protein from primarily a meat source. Just as the 3 above exercises are your backbones, these 3 meat meals are your eating backbones. In addition to your meat, you should eat big portions of carbohydrates and some fat in the same meals. Now in between your 3 strong meals you need to consume 3 minor meals, such as a protein shake or a couple of protein bars, or essentially some snack which is going to contain another minimum of 30-50 grams of protein, but you are allowed to have this in protein shake form or other easy, convenient protein forms. And the carbohydrate amount need not be as heavy. This is the ideal eating plan for how to gain weight and muscle.

With focus, dedication, desire and a solid plan you can indeed learn how to gain weight and muscle in 4 weeks. From that point you can gauge your progress, and if you want to continue to gain weight and muscle and get even bigger, then you can take what you learned and set up another 4 week mass building program.

Here are 7 important muscle building tips that will get you muscular and lean in a short period of time.

1. Up the protein. No matter what you hear from studies, doctors, or many times individuals who've never stepped inside a gym, protein does help increase muscle mass. Ask the trainees who have had success in building lean muscle and all will agree you need to increase your protein for muscular results.

2. Train heavy but safely. Go as heavy as you can in strict form. You may be able to lift even heavier weight, but you'll likely be compromising your form, making the movement less effective and more dangerous.

3. Do big movements for mass. The big movements are the following: Squats, Deadlifts, Dips, Chins. There are others that can be classified as big movements, but these will get you started gaining major muscle.

4. Eat meals throughout the day. Keep putting the protein food down throughout the day, preferably every 3 hours. These don't have to be full on meals, but rather can be protein shakes or bars. This will keep your body in a steady muscle building state throughout the day.

5. Creatine. Taking creating can improve your strength and lead to greater mass gains. It's not a magic bullet, but it's also not a scam supplement. It can provide good benefits for muscle gain.

6. Don't overtrain! Rest! The biggest killer of muscular gains is overtraining. Your body grows during it's recovery or rest period. If you don't allow your body days off from training, then you simply are not allowing your muscles to grow. Taking every other day off from training can be very conducive to gaining more muscle.

7. Get on a proven Muscle Building Program! The quickest way to gain muscle in only a few months, is to get on a muscle building program, follow everything it says to do, and watch your body grow. A good program will take all the guesswork out of how to develop the most muscle in the shortest amount of time.